Heartbreak hotels? Las Vegas chapels told to stop using Elvis for weddings

The licensing business that controls the Elvis Presley identify and graphic is buying wedding chapel operators in Las Vegas to halt applying Elvis in themed ceremonies, the Las Vegas Critique-Journal reported.

Reliable Makes Team despatched cease-and-desist letters in early Could to several chapels, which are envisioned to be compliant by now. But with Elvis so intently tied to the Vegas wedding industry, some say the go could problems enterprise.

“We are a spouse and children-run company and now we’re hanging with the significant puppies,” stated Kayla Collins, operator of LasVegasElvisWeddingChapel.com and the Minimal Chapel of Hearts. “That’s our bread and butter. I never get it. We were being just hitting our stride once again by means of Covid, then this transpires.”

The Clark county clerk, Lynn Goya, who led a marketing and advertising marketing campaign marketing Las Vegas as a wedding location, mentioned the buy for chapels to quit utilizing Elvis couldn’t have occur at a worse time.

The Vegas marriage sector generates $2bn a 12 months and officials say Elvis-themed weddings represent a major variety of ceremonies performed.

“It might damage a part of our marriage marketplace,” Goya explained. “A amount of people today may eliminate their livelihood.”

A single chapel last weekend had its Elvis impersonator adjust into a leather jacket, denims and a fedora for a “rock’n’roll” ceremony, the Critique-Journal documented.

Graceland Wedding ceremony Chapel, which performs 6,400 Elvis-themed weddings a calendar year, experienced not been served a warning nevertheless, in accordance to its supervisor, Rod Musum.

In the cease-and-desist letter, the firm stated it would halt unauthorized use of “Presley’s identify, likeness, voice impression, and other elements of Elvis Presley’s persona in advertisements, goods and otherwise”.

The letter also mentioned “Elvis”, “Elvis Presley” and “The King of Rock and Roll” were shielded logos.

In a statement, Authentic Manufacturers Team reported it experienced powerful relationships with Elvis tribute artists and fan festivals and explained there was “no intention to shut down chapels that offer you Elvis packages in Las Vegas”.

“We are in search of to partner with each of these tiny companies to guarantee that their use of Elvis’ identify, graphic and likeness are formally licensed and licensed by the estate, so they can keep on their functions,” Genuine Models Team stated.

“Elvis is embedded into the material of Las Vegas history.”

The licensing firm oversees the estates of other significant names together with Marilyn Monroe and Muhammad Ali.

The order should really not translate into lawful motion from Elvis-themed stage shows in Las Vegas due to the fact impersonating somebody for stay performances is regarded as an exception less than Nevada’s proper of publicity legislation, explained Mark Tratos, a community lawyer who helped write the statute.

Presley became indelibly connected to Las Vegas in the 1960s and 70s. A 1964 film, Viva Las Vegas, yielded a title observe that became the city’s unofficial theme. In July 1969, Presley redefined the Vegas residency with his dwell comeback at the Las Vegas Intercontinental resort. What started out as a four-week gig turned into extra than 600 demonstrates, running until finally December 1976.

Presley got married in Las Vegas in 1967, to Priscilla Beaulieu, now Presley.

Kent Ripley, whose business is referred to as Elvis Weddings, mentioned he had in no way operate into this problem in 25 yrs of doing as Elvis.

“They want to safeguard the Elvis brand,” he reported. “But what are they protecting by taking Elvis absent from the general public?”